Census of 1831 - Information

The only surviving material relating to the 1831 Census of Ireland is volumes
of "retrospectively amended records" (Sherry Irvine) relating to County
Londonderry. These volumes were created in 1834, when enumerators were requested
to summarise information about religious affiliation.

For each townland in each parish (or part-parish) within
County Londonderry, the 1834 volumes analyse the gender and religion of
household members.

Each page-opening is printed as a form, divided into
columns:

1. Name of Owner or Occupier (in a very few cases
enumerators have listed joint heads)
2. Name of Townland or Street
3. Number of House (sequential in each townland/street)
4. Number of Family (?designed to be sequential in each house)
5. Male family-members (including male head, if any) – number in household
6. Female family-members (including female head, if any) – number in household
7. Male servants – number in household
8. Female servants – number in household
9. Total in household (a useful check on the analysis columns 5-8 &
10-13)
10. Established Church – number in household
11. Roman Catholic – number in household
12. Presbyterian – number in household
13. Other Protestant Dissenters – number in household

Columns 5 to 13 are summed and carried over at each
page-turn, and totalled for each street or townland (or subsection of a
townland). Townland totals are summarised at the end of a parish, and
summed to give totals for the parish.

Note that townland names
do not necessarily correspond to the later administrative townlands, which were
formalised shortly after the 1831 Census.